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June Fourth at 25: Resisting Enforced Amnesia, Building a Just Future

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In June 1989, the Chinese authorities ended a peaceful protest movement by ordering a military crackdown that killed an untold number of unarmed civilians.

Over the past quarter century since the June Fourth crackdown, HRIC has provided advocacy support and solidarity to individuals and groups—particularly the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of June Fourth victims and survivors—who have worked to hold the Chinese authorities accountable for their violence against unarmed and peaceful civilians.

HRIC’s “June Fourth at 25: Resisting Enforced Amnesia, Building a Just Future” initiative builds upon our existing program activities relating to June Fourth, including press work, translation, production of multimedia resources, and participation in commemorative events.

The lead component of the initiative is the “Records of Visits and Interviews with Families of June Fourth Victims,” a collection of stories about 16 June Fourth victims and one survivor, written by members of the Tiananmen Mothers based on their visits and interviews with the victims’ families that began in fall 2013.

Last year, following the 24th anniversary of June Fourth, the Tiananmen Mothers asked themselves:

In all these years, and through all the energy and effort we had expended, we had not been able to get justice for our loved ones, or slow the pace of old age or sickness among our fellow family members who had shared in our common struggle over all these years. . . .  What should we do for those who have passed away? And how should we commemorate the lost souls of June Fourth?

Their answer was to document the lives and deaths of the victims as a way to honor them and to continue to press for justice.

In fall 2013, several members of the group, organized in small teams, embarked on their journeys to many different provinces and municipalities in a wide swath of China. Ding Zilin has described these visits as “rare and weighty journeys that made possible direct heart-to- heart exchanges.”

HRIC is presenting these moving and heartbreaking stories, in Chinese original and English translation, in the lead up to June 4, 2014. Below is the list of the essays published to-date.

Collectively, these stories constitute powerful documentation of the innocent lives lost in a government-orchestrated tragedy. They also strengthen the foundation the Tiananmen Mothers have courageously built over the past decades, providing a basis upon which to press for government accountability.

“Records of Visits and Interviews with Families of June Fourth Victims”
Introduction to the “Records of Visits and Interviews with Families of June Fourth Victims” by Ding Zilin

Shortly after the 24th anniversary of June Fourth last year, some of us—June Fourth victims’ family members residing in Beijing—were thinking about the same questions with sadness. In all these years, and through all the energy and effort we had expended, we had not been able to get justice for our loved ones, or slow the pace of old age or sickness among our fellow family members who had shared in our common struggle over all these years. They had been departing one after the other, leaving us with unending grief.

Introduction to the “Records of Visits and Interviews with Families of June Fourth Victims”
“There is Always a Wound in My Heart—How Can I Forget?” by You Weijie and Wu Lihong

The story of Tian Daoming (田道明), 22, male, a senior in the Department of Management of the University of Science and Technology Beijing, originally from Shishou City, Hubei Province. He was crushed to death by a tank in the early morning of June 4, 1989.

There is Always a Wound in My Heart—How Can I Forget?
“Chen Yongting, Son of the Earth” by You Weijie

The story of Chen Yongting (陈永廷), 20, male, a student at the Department of Economics of the Central Institute for Nationalities (中央民族学院). He was the first and only person from a poor, remote mountain village in the Youyang Miao and Tujia Autonomous County outside of Chongqing, to go to college. He was shot to death on Tiananmen Square the night of June 3, 1989.

Chen Yongting, Son of the Earth
“I’m Not Afraid Anymore—I Want to Stand Up and Sign My Name” by You Weijie & Wu Lihong

The story of Lai Bi (赖笔), 21, male, a student at the Peking University Health Science Center (北京医科大学). He was struck in the head by a stray bullet on West Chang’an Avenue on the night of June 3, 1989 while helping rescue the wounded. He was taken to the Peking University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital, where he died at dawn on June 4.

I’m Not Afraid Anymore—I Want to Stand Up and Sign My Name
"The Outpouring of a Worker in the Great Development of the Northwest" by You Weijie & Guo Liying

The story of Sun Hui (孙辉), 19, male, a student in the Department of Chemistry at Peking University. Shot to death in the early morning of June 4, 1989, near Fuxingmen. He was looking for his schoolmates after they had been dispersed by martial law troops.

Video interview with parents

The Outpouring of a Worker in the Great Development of the Northwest
"He Sacrificed Himself for China" by You Weijie and Wu Lihong

The story of Xiao Jie (肖杰) (birth name: Xiao Fengjie, (肖峰杰)), 21, male, a third-year journalism major at Renmin University of China. On June 5, 1989, he had already purchased a train ticket to go home to Chengdu, Sichuan Province. At 2:10 p.m., when he was walking along the southern end of Nanchizi, a street adjacent to Tiananmen Square, he was shot by martial law troops. A bullet hit his back and exited through his chest. He was put on a flatbed tricycle and carried by residents to the emergency room of the Public Security Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 2:55 p.m.

Video interview with parents

He Sacrificed Himself for China
“A Shrine for a Beloved Son” by You Weijie and Wu Lihong

The story of Wu Guofeng (吴国锋), 20, a student of industrial economics at Renmin University of China, in the entering class of 1986. In the evening of June 3, 1989, he was shot in the back of the head when riding his bike and carrying his camera. After he fell to the ground, he was stabbed in the abdomen with a bayonet. He had blade marks in the palms of both hands. An elderly person took him to the Post and Telecommunications Hospital, where he died.

Video interview with parents

A Shrine for a Beloved Son
"The Government Must Give Us an Answer" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Li Dezhi (李德志), 25, a graduate student in physics at the Beijing Post and Telecommunications University. He was hit by a bullet in the stomach in the early morning of June 4, 1989, at Fuxingmen. His body was recovered from the Fuxing Hospital.

The Government Must Give Us an Answer
"Kong Weizhen, Disabled but Unyielding" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Kong Weizhen (孔维真), a second-year student at the Beijing Institute of Physical Education (北京体育学院). In the evening of June 3, 1989, while he was hiding behind a barrier in a construction site near Fuxingmen, a bullet shattered the shinbone in his left leg and tore the arteries. He underwent 13 operations. 

Kong Weizhen, Disabled but Unyielding
"So That He Can Follow the Waves to See the Free World" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Liu Hongtao (刘洪涛), 18, a student of optical engineering at the Beijing Institute of Technology, in the entering class of 1988 (section No. 40882). He was shot in both legs near the Cultural Palace of Nationalities and died in the early hours of June 4, 1989. His body was recovered at the Beijing Postal and Telecommunications Hospital.

Video interview with parents

So That He Can Follow the Waves to See the Free World
"He Hoped, after Graduation, to Be of Service to His Motherland" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Dai Jinping (戴金平), 27, a graduate student at the Landscape Architecture Department of Beijing Agricultural University. Shot in the chest near Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3, 1989. He was killed at around 11 p.m. His family members saw his body around June 10 in the morgue of the Friendship Hospital in southwest Beijing. The school gave them 2,000 yuan for his funeral expenses.

He Hoped, after Graduation, to Be of Service to His Motherland
"My Son Was Shot to Death—I’m Not Willing to Let it Go" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Cheng Renxing (程仁兴), 25, a graduate student at the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Research Institute of Renmin University of China. He had graduated from Central China Teachers’ College in Wuhan as an English language major. In the early morning of June 4, 1989, beneath the national flag at Tiananmen Square, he was shot in the abdomen. He was taken to Beijing People’s Hospital in northwest Beijing, where he died. This is the first victim documented by the Tiananmen Mothers who was killed in Tiananmen Square.

My Son Was Shot to Death—I’m Not Willing to Let it Go
"He Lost His Life before Finishing His Studies" by You Weijie and Guo Liying

The story of Xiong Zhiming (熊志明), 20, male, an undergraduate at Beijing Normal University’s Economics Department. Shot in a hutong entrance while trying to save his fallen female classmate on the night of June 3, 1989. The whereabouts of the female classmate’s body are unknown. Xiong’s body was claimed by his school after a classmate identified the clothes he was wearing.

 

He Lost His Life before Finishing His Studies
"A Family Shattered by a Gunshot" by Yin Min and Zhang Yanqiu

The story of Shi Yan (石岩), 27, a cellist in the Air Force Political Bureau Cultural Work Group after graduating from the PLA Academy of the Arts. He was shot in the head in the early morning of June 4, 1989, and died in the Beijing People’s Hospital.

Video interview with parents

A Family Shattered by a Gunshot
"Our Daughter Finally Has a Home in the United States" by Yin Min and Zhang Yanqiu

The Story of Luan Yiwei (栾沂纬), born on June 5, 1954, in Shangdong Province. He graduated from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and worked as an engineer at the Baotou Iron and Steel Design Institute in Inner Mongolia. At the time of his death, he was doing advanced studies at the Beijing Post and Telecommunications University.

Our Daughter Finally Has a Home in the United States
"A Tombstone of Rock" by Yin Min and Zhang Yanqiu

The story of Ren Wenlian (任文联), male, 19, a first-year student at Beijing University of Science and Technology, from Linhe, Inner Mongolia. He was shot in the head in the early morning of June 4, 1989, on Chang’an Avenue at Liubukou alley. In addition, the left side of his chest was crushed and one of his arms was broken. He died at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital.

A Tombstone of Rock
"My Good Son’s Death Was Unjust!" by Yin Min and Zhang Yanqiu

The story of Li Ping (李评), born in 1967 in Fengcheng Village, Dandong, Liaoning Province, was a third-year student in Beijing’s Capital Normal University’s Political Education Department in 1989. On the night of June 3, he was shot in the left cheek. He died in the early morning of June 4, at age 23. He was an outstanding student cadre.

My Good Son’s Death Was Unjust!
"Looking at This, It Feels Like My Heart Has Been Cut Out" by Yin Min and Zhang Yanqiu

Gong Jifang (龚紀芳), born on April 14, 1970, a first year business management major at Beijing Technology and Business University in 1989. While returning from Tiananmen to Liubukou in the early morning of June 4, she was shot in the arm with an expanding bullet and fell to the ground. Unconscious from gas poisoning, she was sent to the Beijing Emergency Medical Center, where she died. Her death certificate states the cause of death was lung erosion caused by poison gas. She was originally from Shanghai. Her family resided in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia.

It’s Like Being Cut with a Knife in the Heart
International Official Statements on 25th Anniversary of June Fourth
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay(EN, CH)
  • Canada (EN, CH)
  • Germany (EN)
  • United States, The White House (EN, CH)
  • United States, Department of State, John Kerry (EN, CH)
  • US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (EN)
  • US House Democractic Leader, Nancy Pelosi (EN)
Photos: May-June 1989, Beijing
Photos from HRIC archive and courtesy of Gail Butler, Libby Schmalz.
HRIC Resources

​Program Work

Other Resources
June Fourth 25th Anniversary Related Activities
■ Overseas ■ Online ■ Hong Kong

Actions

Commemorative

Cultural

Conferences and hearings:

HRIC EVENT IN HONG KONG JUNE 3

Remembering June 4th 1989: The Role of Hong Kong in China

HRIC, together with the Centre for Comparative and Public Law & the Law Association of the University of Hong Kong, will host a documentary screening followed by a panel discussion at the University of Hong Kong. See event page for details.

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